If the package doesn't have index.theme or if it doesn't include an "Inherits" line you don't have to copy this file.

Note: Some applications keep using the default X11 cursor when a themed version of left_ptr_watch and the like should be shown. Have a look at the symlinks in the changelog belonging to the [3Dcursors project at KDE-Look] to fix this.

Configuring Cursor Themes

To locally change a cursor theme, add this line to your ~/.Xdefaults:

Xcursor.theme: foobar

Note: Make sure the file ~/.Xdefaults is called by your window manager. You can force it to get loaded by running xrdb ~/.Xdefaults before loading your window manager (for example from ~/.xinitrc if you use startx). Refer to your window manager documentation for details.

Alternatively, you can create a symlink "default" in ~/.icons, which should points to your installed cursor theme:

ln -s /usr/share/icons/foobar/ ~/.icons/default

If you rather want to change the cursor globally (e.g. used by graphical login managers like kdm, gdm, ...), or if you experience problems with above method (for example in Firefox), create the /usr/share/icons/default/ directory (only if needed):

# mkdir -p /usr/share/icons/default (only if needed)

Edit or create the /usr/share/icons/default/index.theme file and add the following:

[icon theme]
Inherits=foobar

Or if you have/want your cursor themes in ~/.icons only. Create the ~/.icons/default/ directory:

mkdir -p ~/.icons/default

And create the ~/.icons/default/index.theme file with the same contents as above /usr/share/icons/default/index.theme.

You can optionally add this line to ~/.Xdefaults if your cursor theme supports multiple sizes:

Xcursor.size: 32 # 32, 48 or 64 are probably good values

If you don't know about supported cursor sizes just start X without this setting and let it choose the cursor size automatically.

More information

For more information about cursors in X (supported directories, formats, compatibility, etc.) refer to the man page:

man Xcursor

Note: If the animations are flickering on your nvidia card, add the following line to your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file, into the nvidia device section, to fix it: